The body of an American tourist has been found stuffed into a suitcase in Indonesia's resort island of Bali and the victim's daughter and her boyfriend arrested for what police suspect was a gruesome murder.

"There has been no confession yet but the couple are now being detained and interrogated," Hery Wiyanto, Bali police spokesman, told Reuters by phone, adding the killing took place on Tuesday.

Heather Louise Mack, 19, and Tommy Schaefer, 21, were arrested on Wednesday after a day-long chase.

Ida Bagus Putu Alit, a forensic expert at the hospital that conducted an autopsy, said Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, had been "hit by a blunt object and the blows were concentrated on the face and head".

"There were signs of a struggle by the victim as there were bruises on her arms and some fingers were broken," Alit added.

Crime is common in the so-called 'island of the gods', a booming tourist destination in world's fourth-largest country.

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